Netflix drops 9%; EMC, Apple weigh on tech

Apple unwraps iPad Air; Texas Instruments slips on quarterly results

DanGallagher

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Declining shares of Netflix Inc., EMC Corp. and Apple Inc. weighed on the tech sector on Tuesday, offsetting gains in shares of Hewlett-Packard and VMware.

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Netflix shares turn lower.

The Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP, -0.01%
eked out a 0.2% gain to close at 3,930. But the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index
MSH, -0.20%
and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index
SOX, -1.20%
were each down a fraction.

Apple
AAPL, -0.87%
shares were volatile, trading down 0.3% to close at $519.87 after the company unveiled new products, including the iPad Air, a thinner, lighter version of its popular tablet. The stock turned positive briefly as the new iPad was introduced, but slipped back into red.

Netflix
NFLX, +2.47%
also made a dramatic reversal, giving up gains to fall 9%, closing at $322.52. The online streaming company reported better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter and gave an earnings forecast for the current period that was far ahead of Wall Street’s estimates.

Netflix shares had already more than tripled since the start of the year, leading some analysts to question the stock’s high valuation despite the strong results. The stock was downgraded to a sell rating by S&P Capital IQ.

Nokia launches its first tablet

(3:48)

Nokia launched its Lumia 2520 tablet Tuesday. It comes with a 10-inch screen and will run Windows RT, a special version of Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system. Sven Grundberg assesses whether it has any chance of taking sales off market leaders Apple and Samsung.

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